Miller 500

July 21, 1996
Pocono, PA

On July 18, Derrike Cope was on This Week in NASCAR for half an hour and answered a lot of questions. Check here for highlights.

Having done well in Pocono earlier in the season, Derrike was hoping for a good showing. After having qualifying rained out again the first day, Derrike Cope was the next to last car to qualify the next day and ended up in 10th position.

During the race, Derrike stayed around that 10th position. The pit crew seemed to do a good job also as Derrike never lost more than a couple positions during all the green flag pit stops. Driving a solid race, Derrike ended the race also in 10th.

It was later learned that the car had lost all gears except for third gear and Derrike was still able to finish 10th.

As Derrike had said earlier in the interview on This Week in NASCAR the team hoped their motor problems had been solved. At least for this race the problems were gone as Derrike Cope ran very solid through the race with no fear of another DNF. To be able to finish the race was a great achievement for the team, but to finish the race with a top ten finish was even better.

Co-editor Jeff Cope talked with Gary Williams from Badcock Home Furnishings on August 1. One interesting story that Mr. Williams relayed was that in this Pocono race the car had lost all gears except third gear. Even with this difficulty, Derrike was still able to finish tenth.

It was mentioned by Mr. Williams that the recent engine problems are due to inexpensive parts. Hopefully the team can get around this by working with Badcock and the other sponsors.